Exhibit - Brattleboro Historical Society

Unveiling Moments in Brattleboro History

The Brattleboro Historical Society will unveil its historic markers project at a ceremony behind the Wells Fountain at 10:00 AM on Saturday, June 28, 2025. The project is titled ‘Moments in Brattleboro History.’ The public is welcome to join the Historical Society’s unveiling of the first marker. Here John Clements of Zephyr Design prepares the sign for his building – where the home of the Bradshaw family, Brattleboro’s first African-American family was located in the 18th Century. Moments in Brattleboro History (video files) https://youtube.com/@momentsinbratthistory?si=hyMCr5NpRmA-pIkt The Bradshaws (audio file) https://on.soundcloud.com/4PJoGdDjMhmG12dLA

Clarina Howard Nichols

Clarina Howard Nichols – Townsend and Brattleboro Clarina Howard Nichols (1810 – 1885) was an advocate for human rights. Born in Townsend, VT she went on to become the publisher of the Windham County Democrat newspaper in Brattleboro, where she expanded coverage to include women’s rights and equality for all. Her writings are credited for changes made in Vermont legislation providing for more rights. After the death of her second husband (having successfully divorced the first), Clarina moved her family to Kansas when the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 threatened to establish slavery outside of the South. In Kansas, she continued writing about and advocating for equality, and again had significant influence on laws passed to ensure those rights. Her dedication to ensuring those rights continued when she moved to Washington D.C. and California. ________________________________________________________________________ Previously, Brattleboro Area Middle School students under the tutelage of teacher Joe Rivers made a podcast about Nichols for the Brattleboro […]

History Bits

1958 Vermont’s oldest bank and its largest commercial bank merged to become the Vermont National and Savings Bank. The banks which merged were the Vermont Savings Bank, the oldest savings bank which was organized in 1846, and the Vermont Peoples National Bank of Brattleboro, Vermont’s oldest commercial bank, which was incorporated in 1821.

Deadly Flu Pandemic Hit Brattleboro in 1918

The first Brattleboro death from the flu epidemic occurred on September 30, 1918. The victim was a 36-year-old Fort Dummer Cotton Mill worker named Isidor Bellair. He was a French Canadian immigrant who had moved his family to Brattleboro two years earlier in order to find work at the mill. He was survived by his wife and six small children, the youngest being only 5 months old.